4.1.1. Inappropriate selection of words
A Chinese word may have several English equivalences. For example, the Chinese word “烟” can be translated as “smoke”, “mist”, “vapor”, “tobacco”, “cigarette” etc. These words are all listed under the entry of “烟”, but the pragmatic meaning of them sometimes are quite different.
Some public signs are mistranslated by using inappropriate words. Examples of such signs are as followed:

Example 1




(Shot on a toilet located in Andingmennei Street) (Ordinary photo provided)

Response: Rena, an ESL teacher in a private school in Tong Zhou district wrote that: “In the U.S., the toilets are usually labeled ‘restroom’. Of course, when people talk, they use many different words, but never ‘WC’.  That´s British. The signs usually say "Men" and "Women." Maybe sometimes in a restaurant or something, they say ‘Gentlemen’ and ‘Ladies’. Using ‘Male’ and ‘Female" is strange, but I understand it with no problem.” (Appendix - Letter 1)
Analysis: “Male”, as a noun, is defined as “a male animal”, while “female” refers to “a person or animal that belongs to the sex that can have babies or produce eggs” (Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, 2005). Both male and female are used for living things instead of inanimate objects such as toilets.
Suggestions: “Men’s” and “Ladies”, or “Men’s” and “Women’s”, even “Boy’s” and “Girl’s” can be labeled to the toilet for men and women, but never “male” and “female”. That’s strange.

Example 2
        

      香山公园为一级防火区
      Fireproofing Area
(Shot in The Fragrant Hill Park)

Analysis: “Fireproofing” is defined as “a building, piece of cloth etc. that cannot be badly damaged by flames” ((Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, 2005). How can an area be “fireproof”?
Suggestions: Here, “防火区” means that every effort should be done to prevent the fire from happening in this particular area. Thus, “fire warden” can be used.

Example 3


(Shot at the station of Bus 358, Andingmen Street)

Analysis: “rest room” refers to “a room with a toilet, in a place such as a restaurant or cinema” (Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, 2005). So, if we back translate the above mentioned sign into Chinese, it will be “司机（专用）厕所” instead of “司机休息室”. What’s more, “司机” here means “司机的”, which means that “driver” should be in its possessive form as “drivers’”.
Suggestions: The room is provided to the drivers for having a rest. From this sense, “rest room” should be replaced by “staff room” or “common room”. So the sign should be read as “staff room/ common room for drivers”.

Example 4

停车取卡
Shut down
(Shot at the entrance of an expressway)

Analysis: “shut down” means “the closing of a factory, business, or piece of machinery” (Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, 2005). From the explanation we can see that this phrase can never be used for a car.
Suggestions: It can be simply put as “take card”. “停车” is unnecessary to be translated, for everyone knows that no one can take the card without stopping his car.

Example 5


(Shot in a scenic spot)

Analysis: “priority” is defined as “the thing that you think is most important and that needs attention before anything else” (Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, 2004). It’s nothing to do with the sequence of visiting. If  it is back translated into Chinese, it will be read as “请按照优先考虑事项参观”, which is far away from the original meaning. A spelling mistake also spotted here: “visitace”, which should be “visiting”.
Suggestions: “Please visit in sequence” or “Please queue up here” will be all right for this sign.

Example 6


(Shot in a department store in Silk Market)

Analysis: “fuck”, which means “to have sex with someone”, is a taboo and offended word, which should be avoided using in public places.
干果 cannot be called a kind of “fruit”, in fact, it is a kind of “nut”, “dried nut”. So it is not appropriate to use “fruit” in this sign.
The sign, which is hung in a supermarket, is intended to tell the customers where the dried nut can be found. The name of the product speaks of everything, and the word “area” can be omitted.
Suggestions: “dried nut”

Example 7



  （Shot on Jingtong Expressway）

Analysis: As a signpost, “通州区” here refers to the administrative region named “Tong zhou”. Hence, “district” should be used. Compared with “district”, “area” is too general, and is translated as “地区/地界” in Chinese, which is not the equivalence of “通州区”.
Suggestion: “Tong zhou District”